Security documents are used across a diverse marketplace to deter fraud, counterfeiting and theft. In most cases, the security documents are pre-printed on media. The pre-printed media must be stored in a secure location so that counterfeiters and thieves are not able to obtain the secure media which would allow them to freely print fraudulent documents.
There are printers that can print these secure patterns on demand on standard media. In brief, security printing relates to the practice of manufacturing media substrate with certain security indicia/features to prevent forgery and counterfeiting of items such as passports, checks, and prescription pads. As should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, security printing can include, for example, the inclusion of watermarks, UV coatings, security fibers, microprinting, holograms, phosphorescent inks, and pantographs (e.g., “void”) etc. in the manufacture of the media substrate. The advantage of these “security printers” is that standard media does not have to be secured from theft as the secure documents can be created on demand.
One such security feature is a secured barcode. Some secured barcodes operate by embedding an extra layer of data within the barcode. The extra layer cannot be read by an ordinary bar code scanner. The embedded secure data on the barcode can be used to validate a secure document when it is presented for authentication, by using a particular reader programmed to read the secured barcode with the embedded secure data.
However, security printers are potential targets for counterfeiters. In particular, a counterfeiter wanting to learn the identity and other particulars of the embedded secured barcode could attempt to read the data transmitted to the printer to be encoded into the secured barcode. A counterfeiter possessing this data could potentially duplicate the complete secured barcode with embedded data and make unauthorized copies of counterfeit secured document, and would not require the specialized reader to spoof the document. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a system and method for obscuring the data to be embedded within a barcode such that a hacker could not identify the data within a data stream sent to a printer.